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The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man is a 2012 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man and sharing the title of the character'slongest-running comic book of the same name. It is the fourth theatrical Spider-Man film produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, and areboot of Sam Raimi's 2002–2007 trilogy preceding it. The film was directed by Marc Webb, written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves and stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curtis Connors, Denis Leary as NYPD Captain George Stacy along with Martin Sheen and Sally Field as the uncle and aunt of Peter Parker, Ben Parker and May Parker. The film tells the story of Peter Parker, a teenager from New York City who becomes Spider-Man after being bitten by a genetically altered spider. Parker must stop Dr. Curt Connors as a mutated lizard from spreading a mutation serum to the city's human population. Development of the film began with the cancellation of Spider-Man 4 in 2010, ending director Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film series that had starred Tobey Maguire as the titular superhero. Columbia Pictures opted to reboot the franchise with the same production team along with James Vanderbilt to stay on with writing the next Spider-Man film while Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves helped with the script as well. During pre-production, the main characters were cast in 2010. New designs were introduced from the comics such as artificial web-shooters. Using Red Digital Cinema Camera Company's RED Epic camera, principal photography started in December 2010 in Los Angeles before moving to New York City. The film entered post-production in April 2011. 3ality Technicaprovided 3D image processing, and Sony Imageworks handled CGI. This was also the final American film to be scored by James Horner and released during his lifetime, before his death in 2015. Sony Pictures Entertainment built a promotional website, releasing many previews and launched a viral marketing campaign, among other moves. Tie-ins included a video game by Beenox. The film premiered on June 30 in Tokyo and was released in the United States on July 3 in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D and released in home media in November 2012. The reboot was well received by critics, praising mostly Andrew Garfield's performance, the visual style and the realistic portrayal of the titular character. Both critics and audiences were mixed about the introduction of the character, the Lizard, which was considered too surreal for the film, and the reinvention of the titular character, which was regarded as too soon after Spider-Man 3. The film was a box office success, grossing over $757 million worldwide, becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2012, and the highest-grossing reboot of all time. The film's sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, was released on May 2, 2014, with Marc Webb and most of the first film's main cast returning to their previous roles. All subsequent sequels slated to be released have since been canceled, and a new iteration of the character will appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Plot A young Peter Parker discovers his father Richard Parker's study has been burgled. Gathering up hidden documents, Peter's parents take him to the home of his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, then mysteriously depart. Years later, a teenaged Peter attends Midtown Science High School, where he is bullied by Flash Thompson and has caught the eye of the beautiful Gwen Stacy. At home, Peter finds his father's papers and learns he worked with fellow scientist Dr. Curt Connors at Oscorp. Sneaking into Oscorp, Peter enters a lab where a "biocable" is under development from genetically modified spiders, one of which bites him. On the subway ride home, he discovers that he has developed spider-like abilities, such as sharp senses, reflexes and speed. After studying Richard's papers, Peter visits the one-armed Connors, reveals he is Richard Parker's son and gives Connors his father's "decay rate algorithm", the missing piece in Connors' experiments on regenerating limbs. Connors is being pressed by his superior, Dr. Ratha, to devise a cure for the dying (but unseen) head of Oscorp, Norman Osborn. In school, Peter gets into trouble after a basketball challenge with Flash in which Peter accidentally shatters the backboard glass. His uncle changes work shifts to meet with the principal and asks Peter to replace him walking home with May that night. Peter gets distracted and helps Connors regenerate the limb of a laboratory mouse. Peter's failure causes an argument with Ben and he leaves. At a nearby deli, a cashier refuses to let Peter buy milk when Peter is two cents short; when a thief suddenly raids the store, Peter indifferently observes. While searching for Peter, Ben attempts to stop the thief and is killed. The thief escapes as Peter finds Ben on the sidewalk. Afterward, Peter uses his new abilities to hunt criminals matching the killer's description. After a fall lands him inside an abandoned gym, a luchador-wrestling poster inspires him to create a mask to hide his identity. He adds a spandex suit and builds mechanical devices to attach to his wrists to shoot a biocable "web". Peter accepts a dinner invitation from Gwen, where he meets and has a tense conversation with her father, police captain George Stacy, over Spider-Man's motives. After dinner, Peter reveals his identity to Gwen and they kiss. After seeing success with the mouse using lizard DNA, Ratha demands Connors begin human trials immediately if Osborn is to survive. Connors refuses to rush the drug-testing procedure and put innocent people at risk. Ratha fires Connors and decides to test Connors' serum at a Veterans Administration hospital under the guise of a flu shot. In an act of desperation, Connors tries the formula on himself. After passing out, he awakens to find his missing arm has regenerated. Discovering that Ratha is on his way to the VA hospital, Connors, whose skin is turning green and scaly, goes to intercept him. By the time he gets to the Williamsburg Bridge Connors has become a violent hybrid of lizard and man, tossing cars, including Ratha's, over the side of the bridge. Peter, now calling himself Spider-Man, snatches each falling car with his web-lines. Spider-Man suspects Connors is Lizard and unsuccessfully confronts the creature in the sewers. Lizard learns Spider-Man's real identity via the name on an abandoned camera and follows Peter to school where they fight. In response, the police start a manhunt for both Spider-Man and Lizard, while trying to evacuate the city. The police corner Spider-Man and Captain Stacy discovers that he is really Peter. Lizard plans to make all humans lizard-like by releasing a chemical cloud from Oscorp's tower, to eliminate the weaknesses he believes plague humanity. Spider-Man eventually disperses an antidote cloud instead, restoring Connors and earlier victims to normal, but not before Lizard mortally wounds Captain Stacy. Before his death, Captain Stacy makes Peter vow to keep Gwen safe by leaving her out of it. Peter initially does so, but later at school suggests to Gwen he may see her after all. In a mid-credits scene, Connors, in a prison cell, speaks with a man in the shadows who asks if Peter knows the truth about his father. Connors replies, "No", and demands Peter be left alone before the man disappears.2 Cast * Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man:4 : A teenager struggling to find his place in life ever since his parents disappeared when he was a child. A spider bites him on the back of his neck, giving him spider-powers. He becomes Spider-Man.56 Garfield described Parker as someone he can relate to and stated that the character had been an important influence on him since he was little.789 Garfield drew from his life experiences as inspiration for the role, revealing, "I was thinking of my history and thinking of the kid at school who I wasn't as strong as, who behaved badly to a lot of people – including myself – and who I constantly tried to stand up to but never had the physical prowess to".10Discussing his predecessor, Garfield said he respects Tobey Maguire as an actor and that when he first saw Maguire play Spider-Man he "was blown away by his interpretation."10 Garfield said in interviews, including one in which he was interviewed by Maguire, that when he watched the film Spider-Man when he was younger, he would jokingly recite Maguire's lines in the mirror with a friend who joked that he would never be Spider-Man.1011 On accepting the role Garfield explained, "I see it as a massive challenge in many ways... To make it authentic. To make the character live and breathe in a new way. The audience already has a relationship with many different incarnations of the character. I do, as well. I'm probably going to be the guy in the movie theater shouting abuse at myself. But I have to let that go. No turning back. And I wouldn't want to."12 After taking the role, Garfield studied the movements of athletes and spiders and tried to incorporate them, saying Parker is "a boy/spider in terms of how he moves, and not just in the suit."1314 He did yoga and Pilates for the role in order to be as flexible as possible.15 When first wearing his costume Garfield admitted to shedding tears and trying to imagine "a better actor in the suit",16 which he described as "uncomfortable" and admitted to wearing nothing beneath it since it is skintight.17 When filming Garfield explained that he had four months of training and described his physical roles on stunts as terribly challenging and exhausting.18 :* Max Charles portrayed Peter Parker as a 4-year-old. * Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy: : A high school classmate and love interest of Parker's,19 a smart and charismatic girl who is the chief Intern at Oscorp.56 For the role, Stone went back to her natural blonde hair color, from her previously known color of red.2021 She felt that she had a responsibility to educate herself on Spider-Man, admitting she "hadn't read the comic book growing up, and my experience was with the Sam Raimi movies... I always assumed that Mary Jane was his first love",22 and having only been familiar with her The Help co-star Bryce Dallas Howard's portrayal in Spider-Man 3.232425 Stone said, "There's a part of me that really wants to please people who love Spider-Man or Gwen Stacy and want her to be done justice. I hope they'll give me license to interpret her my way."21 * Rhys Ifans as the Dr. Curt Connors / Lizard:2627 : One of Oscorp's leading scientific minds who attempts to engineer a revolutionary regeneration serum to help regrow limbs and human tissue. Something goes wrong, and he is transformed into the monster known as the Lizard.56 Ifans said his character spends the majority of the film as a human. While playing the 9-foot-tall reptile, Ifans was required to wear a CGI suit. Initially, a large stunt-double was used as a stand-in for the role, but Ifans insisted on portraying the transformed character. Commenting on the technology used to bring his character to life, Ifans continued, "I had a green suit on, and then this cardboard head, and these small claws... Each and every time you see the Lizard, the technology is so advanced now that when the Lizard's eyes move, they're my eyes. If I frown or show any emotion, they're my emotions. That's how spectacularly advanced technology is."28 Ifans said that he voiced the man-beast as well, explaining, "I'm sure the voice will be toyed with in the eventual edits, but when I was shooting the CGI moments, when I wasn't actually human, when I was Lizard, I looked like a crash-test dummy in a green leotard thing. There were many moments when I had to speak to Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as the Lizard."29 * Denis Leary as Captain George Stacy: : Gwen's father and a New York City Police Department captain who hunts both Spider-Man out of distrust and the Lizard for his rampage.31 Leary explained that he did not know much about Spider-Man in the comics and was "more of a Batman guy. Not the '60s version but the really dark Batman. But my wife was a Spider-Man nut, which was why I went to Tobey Maguire ones."32 He added that long before he was cast as George Stacy his friend Jeff Garlin, a Spider-Man fan, "said to me, 'The first time I met you, I thought you were George Stacy!' This was like 30 years ago. I was like, 'What?!'"32 Director Webb said of his casting, "We all trust Denis Leary. He's got this attitude, but you love him. In this movie, he puts pressure on Peter Parker. He's on Spider-Man's case, but you understand him. I've said this before, but good drama comes from competing ideas of what's good." :* Martin Sheen as Ben Parker: :: Peter's uncle.34 Sheen admitted he was unfamiliar with Spider-Man other than Maguire's portrayal, and knew little of the character Ben Parker except for knowing Cliff Robertson had played the part.35Sheen described his character as a surrogate father, saying, "I'm dealing with this adolescent who is having problems with changes, with hormones changing and his getting out of hand. I have to give him the marching orders and so forth."36 Webb said, "You think of Martin Sheen as President Bartlet [of TV's The West Wing]. He has that sense of benevolent authority, but there's something else that's important, in terms of the dynamic that I wanted to explore, vis-à-vis Peter's relationship with his absent parents." Webb felt that unlike the scientifically inclined Peter, Uncle Ben represented theblue-collar working man, a gap that could create a dynamic between the characters.33 :* Sally Field as May Parker: :: Ben Parker's wife and Peter's aunt.3738 Field said the main reason she felt she had to be in the film was because of producer Laura Ziskin (they worked together on the 1985 film Murphy's Romance) because she had an instinct that this was to be Ziskin's last film. After Ziskin's death Field expressed her gratitude of being a part of both Ziskin's first and last films.39 Director Webb felt that "when you cast someone like Sally, they come with a certain level of awareness and real genuine affection, which for Aunt May is an incredibly important thing to have." Webb said that while "we all love Aunt May", he wanted to create a tension between May and Peter. "He's got bruises on his face, and what happens in that moment? That can create some tension, but you want there to be love there. That's what someone like Sally Field gives you."33 :* Irrfan Khan as Dr. Rajit Ratha:540 :: An Oscorp executive, Connors' immediate superior.41 Khan said he was offered what he described as this "pivotal role" after appearing in the TV drama series In Treatment.4243 Webb described himself as a fan of the actor when watching the series along with the films The Namesake and The Warrior.41 Khan said he was uninterested in the project at first, but that his sons were excited about it and insisted he take the role.44 :* Chris Zylka as Flash Thompson: :: A high school bully who picks on Parker.45 On playing the role, Zylka said, "You just try to focus. As an artist or as an actor, you just try to focus and stay in that world and block it all out."46 Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz portray Peter's parents, Richard and Mary Parker.4748 Leif Gantvoort plays the burglar who robs the convenience store. Hannah Marks portrays Missy Kallenback, an unpopular girl who has a crush on Peter.49 Kelsey Chow's brief role is simply credited as "Hot Girl" during the end credits of the film, but the actress revealed to media outlets around the time of the film's release that her character is in fact Sally Avril.50 Similarly, C. Thomas Howell's character is credited as "Jack's Father" at the end of the film (Jack being a boy that Spider-Man rescues on the Williamsburg Bridge) but he is referred to as Troy by one of his fellow construction workers in the film itself. Unlike the previous films, J. Jonah Jameson does not appear.51 Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee has a cameo appearance, as he did in the previous films. At the 2011 Dallas Comic Con, Lee detailed that he plays a librarian listening to music on his headphones while stamping books, oblivious to the ongoing battle.52 Michael Massee plays the mysterious man in the shadows who talks with Connors in his prison cell in a teaser scene during the end credits.53 As to the man's identity, director Marc Webb said, "It's intentionally mysterious. And I invite speculation..."54 In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the character was revealed to be Gustav Fiers.55 Michael Papajohn, who played Uncle Ben's killer in the 2002 film, has a cameo as Alfred, Dr. Ratha's limo driver.56 Category:Marvel Films Category:Spider-Man